Election 2004

Filmmaker enlists video observers

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Filmmaker Michael Moore plans to have hundreds of cameras outside polling places in Ohio and Florida on Election Day to watch for attempts to suppress voter turnout.

The director of the anti-Bush documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 announced Saturday that 1,200 professional and nonprofessional photographers, filmmakers and videographers will bring their cameras to polling places in the two presidential battleground states, especially in minority communities.

"I'm putting those who intend to suppress the vote on notice: Voter intimidation and suppression will not be tolerated," Moore said.

Moore, who was in Columbus for a rally Saturday night, planned visits to Ohio and Florida on Tuesday, his publicist Terri Hardesty said.

Polls in both states indicate the race between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry is too close to call.

There have been voting problems already in Florida, where 537 votes tipped the state and the presidency to Bush in 2000. In Ohio, Democrats are fighting Republican attempts to challenge voter registrations.